Almost three years ago, William McRaven was an admiral in the U.S. Navy and Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command (“SOCOM”). He agreed to a conversation with Wolf Blitzer, host of “The Situation Room” on CNN. They discussed the ever expanding role of SOCOM in counterterrorism operations around the world, and the outsize role Special Operations Forces are now playing within the Pentagon, in partnership with the intelligence community, in defending the nation and protecting our global security interests.

The program was sponsored by the Aspen Institute and this video is one of a series now available to the general public at no cost. To watch it and check out other programs in this superb series please click here.

Given recent terrorist activities in Paris and elsewhere throughout the world, I think it is important to understand the nature and extent of the challenges we now face. As you may already know, McRaven is credited for organizing and executing Operation Neptune Spear, the special ops raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. Then CIA Director Leon Panetta delegated the raid to McRaven who worked almost exclusively on counter-terrorism operations and strategy since 2001.

McRaven has since retired and currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Texas System. To learn more about him, please click here.

I highly recommend watching his commencement address at the University of Texas at Austin. You may do so by clicking here.